Around The World Blog Tour.

If you're new to my blog then welcome. Over a week ago I was invited by Daryl to join in the Around the World Blog Tour, I'm always on the look out for new blogs to follow so thought this would be fun to take part in. Daryl is a very talented bag and quilt maker and has many other talents to so make sure you check out her blog tour post HERE.

As part of the blog tour we have to answer a few questions and link to three blogs for you to take a look at. You're in for a treat today becasue I have four blogs for you to visit.

So lets get started.

What am I working on?

It's all very hush hush at the moment. For the last 2 weeks I've been working on a quilt and as I'm testing the pattern I can't give you details until the pattern has been released. All I can say is it's beautiful, very different from what I've ever made in the past and the largest one I've made to date. I'm just doing the quilting on it, just half of it left and then I can bind it so hopefully it won't be long before I can share it with you. As I can't share a photo of it yet I'll leave you with this photo. These are the scraps that I've been left with from making it.




Once I finish this quilt I'll have a couple of test bags to make and of course some more of those lovely Necessary Clutch Wallets. Oh yes, I also promised my friend Karen I'd make a quilt from one of her patterns. There I've written it in black and white so I'm committed to do it now. LOLL

Here are the wallets that I'm addicted to making at the moment. It's the Necessary Clutch Wallet by Janelle at Emmaline Bags.

 When and why did you start your blog?

My first post was on 12th November 2011 and cringe when I look at it now. I had no idea what I was doing I just knew I wanted to keep a record for myself and as I had started bag pattern testing wanted to be able to give credit to the designers or rather designer as I was only testing for ChrisW Designs at the time. I didn't have a decent camera for taking photos, just an old cell phone.

This was the first photo I posted to my new blog, I didn't even know how to add links and on my very first post didn't even introduce myself LOLLL I just dove in and learned as I went along.



The best thing that came out of blogging was getting to make so many friends from all parts of the world that shared the same interest.

How does my work differ from others of it's genre?

I don't think it does actually. I love making bags and would love to make them in beautiful bright colours like I see on other blogs but I make them mostly for customers who prefer browns and neutral colours. I tend to stick to what the pattern says rather than experiment with it. The only thing that comes to mind is no matter what the fabric suggestions are in the bag pattern I will nearly always use upholstery fabrics. Having said that there was just one occasion when I tested the Convertible/Reversible bag by Sarah Gido at Cosy Nest Design. This one just wasn't going to work with upholstery fabrics. This was my first cotton fabric bag.

 
I love working with pleather. These are two bags I particularly like.

This is the Uptown Girl bag by Christine Welsh at ChrisW Designs

And this one is the Retro Rucksack by Sara Curtis at Radiant Home Studio.

Why do I create what I do?

Simply becasue I love doing it. If I didn't sew the things I love then I think I would go crazy. One day the electricity went and I was forced to sit and do nothing. I was twitching and fidgeting constantly and hubby said, just relax for a moment. Sitting doing nothing is not my idea of relaxing, it's stressful. The only thing that relaxes me is being in my room, sewing away and chatting with my bloggy friends.

What do you hope to achieve in the near future?

I love my bag making and testing patterns for wonderful designers and I also love making table runners and toppers especially Dresden Plate toppers like this one I made for Christine.

   
 And log cabin toppers like this one I made for myself.

Just recently I've started quilt pattern testing and really love doing it.
This is the first one I tested, The Watkins Star Quilt by Amy.

The thing I would most like to achieve next is to be able to be a bit more adventurous with free motion quilting. I'm still very new to it and find it a bit of a struggle on larger quilts. Hopefully I'll be able to make more quilts and get plenty of practice in.

Now that you've read a bit about me I'd like to introduce you to four very talented ladies.

Lorena is a relatively new found friend who blogs over at My Way Of.
She's a talented bag maker and tester but also makes the most adorable crochet toys. She writes her blog in both English and Spanish so that in itself is a talent. I find it difficult enough just writing mine in English.

Bethany  I have known for some time and you can find her over at Sweet Bee Buzzings.
Another very talented and funny lady who I think can probably do anything she puts her mind to. Crochet, quilting, paper piecing, bag making, the list goes on and on. Bethany has done some bag sew alongs in the past on her blog that you can check out by clicking on the sewalong tab at the top of her blog. She's absolutely fabulous at it.

Naomi is one of my oldest friends. We met on a yahoo bag group years ago and you can find her over at Made by Nomes
Naomi is another very talented and funny person. She makes bags, crochets and quilts.

Amy is the fourth talented lady who you can find over at Sew Incredibly Crazy. I've been following her blog for some time and love her creations so was delighted when she sent out a post asking for testers for her quilt pattern shown above, The Watkins Star Quilt. It was the first quilt pattern I had ever tested. Amy quilts and crochets and her cross stitched pieces are just so beautiful.

These ladies will be doing their blog tour post on 1st September but make sure you pop over to their blogs before then and don't forget return on the day of their blog tour so you can see which bloggers they've tagged for you to check out.

Hope you've enjoyed your visit here and hope you'll be back to see what I've been working on.

Happy Sewing

~ Maria ~

Thank you all for stopping by.